popular thinking

HANGING WITH COXEN AND JOHNSON: My Friday comedy column this week, Jokers Wild, catches up with Chris Coxen and Nate Johnson, a Boston two-man sketch team.

Some sketch comedy troupes pride themselves on sharp writing, diverse characters or great chemistry.
But for Chris Coxen and Nate Johnson, their two-man shows depend upon something simpler.
Coxen: "You don't want to go up and keep doing the same scenes or the same characters . . . so there's wigs and mustaches involved.''
Johnson: "That is key. The long answer is we both want diversity . . . and it's a good yin-yang thing going on. But the short answer is: Wigs and mustaches.''
Don't tell them that low budget means low comedy standards, though.
Coxen: "It's not like one show we have a baseball hat on, and then the next show we turn our baseball hats backward and pretend to be aliens.''
Johnson: "The only time we do that is when we do the Frat Boy Alien Sketch. But we rarely do that. It's still in workshop.''
Tomorrow night at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway, the duo also will include skits by The Walsh Bros. and stand-up by Dan Sally.
Coxen: "We like to have videos, too, and that allows us to have costume changes.''
How many changes?
Johnson: "Off the top of my head, maybe seven or eight. We're not reaching Mick Jagger or Diana Ross proportions.''
Do they practice method acting, like gaining 10 pounds between skits to get into character?
Johnson: "Actually I tried that once, but I fell asleep.''
Coxen: "This next act is going to have a character with an ax wound, so Nate, stand still.''
Johnson: "We tried that once, but it was quickly followed by the Going To The Hospital Sketch and The Emergency Room Sketch.''
One skit, Calendar Boys, revolves around two losers who pin their hopes for success on, well, a calendar. Is it based on personal experience, perhaps?
Coxen: "Yeah, a little bit. There is a good friend of mine I used to paint houses with. When you're on a painting job, you can get bored. We'd start doing calendar poses. These stupid, absurd, sexy poses. He'd go around the house, and I'd grab a garden hose, put it in the air and get myself all wet, staring into the sun with my shirt off.''
Johnson: "I thought about making my own calendar. I wanted to make every single month December, but people weren't into that. Whatever.''

The Coxen and Johnson Sketch Comedy Show, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, with The Walsh Bros. and Dan Sally, at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Tickets: $12 ($6 students). Call 617-591-1616.